I am disappointed with Unitrack. I have the exact same problems with Unitrack as I had with Atlas Code 80. I can’t run full trains through my double crossovers. Out of 10 cars, 2 will straddle both tracks and the others will be split on to both lines. Also, every once in a while the same thing will happen on a #6 turnout. I’ve even double throw the switch to make sure its set, but it doesn’t seem to matter. I’m thinking of adding weight to the cars, but I don’t know if it will work. I added weight to some passenger cars on my old Code 80 layout and I think it made it worse. This is a photo of what I'm talking about and it has been a lot worse when I try to change track, but I didn’t think to take a photo.
I would add a short straight section so you are not coming straight out of the curve into the turnout. I have had similar derailments when my T-TRAK module with the scissors crossover was positioned next to a corner.
If your running Atlas cars with crapumates couplers, look at the trip pins. One is lower than the other. That pin is catching the rails. I remove both pins & at the same time removed the problem. Another way to eleviate the problem is turn the car with the lower pin around.
This may be more of a problem with wheel gauge than the track. What is most likely happening is that the wheels are a little over gauge and they are picking the points and the frogs of the turnouts.
I'm with Westfalen here. As you travel the curve the natural tendancy will be for the lead wheelset of each truck to hunt (try to go straight) to the outside of the curve. As you come off the curve the wheelset will still be doing this and will pick the point of the switch rail. Note this won't happen everytime with the same car nor with all cars. A short straight section of track before the turnout will alleviate the problem provided there is not any other underlying problems like trip pins hanging, defective wheelsets, tight bolster pins, etc. Also, Tudor's tutorial on tweaking Kato no.4's will assist.
I was wondering about that because as it goes over the rerailer, I can hear something hitting. The curve that it’s coming out of is a superelevated with an easement track in between. The only thing is that it happens from both directions. Oh, I don’t remember where I got these cars, but there are markings on the bottom of each. What do you think they are for?
Johnny... Pull the &^&%$# trip pins out. The worse that will happen is...it wont help...and you can always put em back in...if ya wanna...JMO I got tired of trip pins dropping down...I removed all mine and havent had a derailment at a switch since...just sayin.. .
As a genral rule I always put a straight sectrion of track that is s long as the longest cars I will run before every switch. This helps to elminate the trucks trying to follow a curve that may longer exsist. If the cars are under weight that also will not help. Kevin
Well I took the pins out of four cars. It was a little harder than I thought and I think I destroyed one coupler. It didn’t help at all, in fact as I rolled it around to take another run at the crossover. The cars tipped over on the #6 turn out at the other side. I know that it is a good idea to have a straight section before a turn out, but there’s only so much you can do with an 8ft long layout. It’s either shorter curves or shorter straight pieces. If that is the only way to fix this, than the track is coming up and I’ll have to do something else. I saved all the packaging and was very careful not to damage anything. I’ll package it up and sell it. Before I do that, I want to explore more possibilities with the cars itself. I did notice that my Kato AC4400CW pulling 3 Atlas 33k Gallon Tank Cars without any problems. The tank cars are a lot heaver than the Model Power Santa Fe Covered Hoppers. My wife also reminded me that my 10 Kato passenger cars went through without any problems except that I didn’t have the crossover in operation at the time. It may be the Model Power wheels or maybe I need more weight.
The marks identify the owner. Clubs usually assign a set of marks for each member so similar or identical cars on the layout don't get mixed up. This club (or person) used green and red, two colors. My club uses three colors. Some just use initials written in pencil or ink. G scale could probably put the owners name and address on the bottom. There are all types of markings for this type of thing. Marks placed on the bolster pin are easy to remove by just changing the pin.
I have many cars that have multiple Rose colored dots from the days when I belonged to club in NC. I wonder if the color was assigned because of my name. Gary Rose
You always need a straight section of track coming out of a curve going into a switch. Do that with all your track leading into and exiting switches. The straight section acts as a buffer.
The answers about needing a short piece of straight track and the low trip pins are good. I would also add filing a bevel on the "point" end of the point rails. Leaving a blunt edge there could cause a flange to "pick the points" and derail.
The Atlas couplers are known to explode. That's why you have to take them off or cut them off. FYI, they'll self-distruct while your cutting,unless your extremely careful. Don't twist the cutting tool in any way or POW!
In the middle of the movable points is a screw. Just tighten the screw down and the points should settle in, line up and end the derailments. You can file down the points as they tend to be a bit wide but try tightening the screw down first. Let me know if this works. Works for me.
If you are running the Microtrains Lo-Pros with the knife edge flange you will have this problem. Bob
Well adding a straight section is out of the question. As much as I would like too, there just isn’t any room so it’s not going to happen, at least on this layout. Anyway, I know that the heaver Atlas cars go through without any problem so I put an assortment of 11 Bachmann cars and let them just go with the crossover left in the cross over position. I watched them go around about 15 -20 minutes without incident and they are still going around at this time. I thought maybe it might be the loco because it sounds like it was dragging as it crossed over so I swapped locos and it happened again. I took a car apart and found a small diameter steel bar inside as a weight. It also has micro train trucks on all 8 cars. I could not see any number but they are truck mount couplers. I’m pretty sure it is the MT trucks. I don’t know what to do about it yet, but I have bag of MT trucks that I bought to replace all my Bachman couplers and I think maybe the MTs aren’t so great after all. I’m going to experiment with adding weight to these cars to see if that changes anything. I really want these cars and if there is another way to fix this I will. Maybe Fox Valley wheels might make a difference, I don’t know.
